It was late April, and Ginny's tryouts for the Holyhead Harpies had come around. The entire group was delighted when Professor McGonagall granted them permission to go cheer her on, especially considering that the only reason they were able to go was because Hermione had scored Outstanding's on the N.E.W.T. exams she had taken so far.
"Do you think Ginny's nervous?"
The small group looked down onto the quidditch pitch to see the red head pacing back and forth with her broom propped up on her shoulder. She had separated herself from the rest of the group trying out for the Harpies, trying to calm herself down and ready up.
Hermione shook her head and explained, "No, she's fine. That's how she gets in the mindset for quidditch."
"I don't think I've ever seen her do that," Pansy said with a frown as she leaned back against Theo's legs again.
"Trust me, she'll pace the entire length of the common room over and over before a match until she drives everyone else mad," Hermione laughed.
"She'll be just fine," Blaise said confidently, looking back at his shoulder towards them. "She's going to crush everyone else."
"Just as long as Hermione doesn't use the Confundus Charm on the others," Pansy said slyly.
Hermione's face turned bright red as she stared at Pansy with wide eyes, while Draco, Blaise, and Theo all gaped at her.
"You did what?" Draco asked, trying to hide a grin.
"How could you, Pansy?" Hermione scowled. "I told you that in confidence."
Pansy shrugged and stuck her tongue out while Draco shifted in his seat to face Hermione. "Who did you use the Confundus Charm on? And why?"
Sighing, Hermione looked down at her hands in her lap. "It was sixth year during the Gryffindor quidditch tryouts. Cormac McLaggen was being an outright prat and I didn't want him to be our keeper, so..."
Draco stared at her for a few moments before a grin spread across his face. "I think that's the most Slytherin thing you have ever done. I'm so proud of you!"
She smiled and laughed at that as he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. The quidditch tryouts soon went underway as the large crowd of hopefuls waited patiently for their turn.
"Are they starting with the beaters?" Theo asked curiously.
"Looks like it," Blaise said.
"Interesting position to start with," Draco added. "Most of the time they start with keepers."
"Well maybe they need beaters so that's taking the priority," Pansy suggested.
"Why did you never try out for quidditch?" Hermione asked, looking over at Pansy.
Pansy shrugged and gave a small grin. "Mother never thought it was a sport for 'ladies'. In truth I would've been a fantastic beater. Theo lets me practice with his bats sometimes; it's a great stress relief."
"Actually, I'm curious as to why you never tried out for quidditch," Theo said, leaning forward to look down at Hermione. "I've never even seen you on a broom, come to think of it."
Draco was the one to come to her rescue as he said, "She's fantastic at everything else she does; I think the ability to fly would give her way too much of an edge over the rest of us."
Hermione laughed at this while Theo shook his head. "A witch who doesn't know how to fly; whoever heard of such a thing?"
"I know how to fly!" Hermione said defensively.
"Oh yeah?" Theo teased. "When was the last time you flew anything?"
Hermione grinned and said, "When I escaped from Gringotts riding the dragon that was held there for protection."
Theo's mouth dropped open and everyone stared at Hermione again, including Draco as he asked, "You did what now?"
"I'll tell you all that story another time," She laughed, patting Draco's leg.
"That better be later today," Blaise said. "I need to know what happened!"
She grinned and turned her attention back to the quidditch pitch, shaking her head.
"Oh Merlin..."
Pansy was leaning forward now and looking past Hermione with an exasperated expression. Everyone else turned to follow her gaze and Hermione froze when she saw the two newcomers making their way through the stadium.
"Did you know that Harry and Ron were coming?" Blaise asked Hermione.
She shook her head, not taking her eyes off them. "I haven't heard from either of them in months."
The knots in her stomach grew larger as Harry and Ron grew closer, and after a few moments she realized where exactly they were going.
"I'm fairly certain they're going to be sitting near us," Hermione announced, her voice wavering slightly.
Everyone shifted uncomfortably but didn't say anything as Hermione's statement turned out to be correct. Harry and Ron both stopped in front of the group and everyone eyed each other in silence for a few moments.
Clearing his throat, Harry finally broke the silence. "Mind if we sit with you all?"
Blaise was the one to gesture to the bench next to him after a tense couple of seconds, and there was a muttering of thanks while the two of them sat down in front of Draco and Hermione.
"Has Ginny gone yet?" Ron asked, turning around to look up at Hermione.
She shook her head. "They've only just begun."
"Oh good, I was hoping we wouldn't miss it," Ron said.
"What about your training?" Blaise asked curiously, raising an eyebrow at the two of them.
Harry shrugged and answered, "Have the weekend off."
"You seem to have a lot of those," Draco muttered, causing Hermione to elbow him quickly in the ribs.
"Be nice," She whispered.
"I am being nice," He whispered back. "I haven't jinxed them yet."
She rolled her eyes but couldn't hide her smile as she turned her attention back to the pitch. She kept glancing down at Harry and Ron every few moments, unsure of how to react to them being there.
"How did you know Ginny was going to be trying out today?" She asked finally, grabbing their attention.
Harry and Ron both looked at each other before Harry answered, "We remembered her saying that she was interested in trying out, and I found out that the tryouts were today and we wanted to come and support her."
Hermione's brow furrowed in confusion. "Neither one of you were that supportive of her before when she mentioned it. Why the sudden change?"
Harry faltered under her gaze and looked away, but Ron took a deep breath and answered, "We've both been doing a lot of thinking lately and we realized that we were basically being prats about it. If she wants to try out then she should, because she's going to do fantastic and she'll be happy, and that's all we want for her."
"That's...very mature of you, Ron," Hermione said in surprise.
He nodded and gave her a half smile before turning back to watch the tryouts, and Hermione looked back at the rest of the group. They were all just as surprised as she was, looking back at her with wide eyes. She gave them a small bewildered shrug and Draco squeezed her hip slightly before everyone fell into silence.
"I think the chasers are up next," Blaise said as a small group of women walked towards the center of the pitch and Ginny was with them.
Everyone straightened up as the captain of the Harpies started to spout off what was going to happen. Her voice carried upwards into the stands, but her words became garbled and no one quite knew what was going to happen. The group split off into smaller groups of three, with Ginny being in the second group.
"It almost looks like they're going to do a mock quidditch game," Pansy said then.
"That's a good way to see how well they do on a team," Blaise nodded.
"I see Ginny still paces," Ron said in an amused tone.
"You should've seen her earlier," Hermione said. "She was making the rest of the women nervous."
"She looks like she's the youngest one out there," Harry said, turning back to look at Hermione. "And how is it that you all managed to get out of Hogwarts to come here?"
"Because Hermione's the smartest one out of all of us," Theo said proudly.
"Well that's a given." Ron turned around to look back at them. "She's always been the smartest one."
Hermione felt Draco's arm tighten around her and she looked up at him, noticing that his jawline was firm as he stared straight ahead at the quidditch pitch. Sighing, she leaned against him as an attempt at reassurance while Ron looked at her.
"How are your N.E.W.T.S. going, by the way?" He asked curiously.
"I've received Outstanding's on two of them so far," She said happily. "I take the rest next week."
"That's wonderful, 'Mione!"
Harry was grinning at her as well. "You know, Kingsley's looking for more Aurors and I know he offered you a position after the battle. You should come join us after you graduate."
She shook her head, noticing that everyone was watching the three of them now. "Being an Auror is not for me."
Frowning, Harry went on: "But you'd be a fantastic addition, and you know that you would ace everything."
"Harry, I've burnt myself out hunting dark magic already," She said gently. "I've been considering a ministry job though, but for right now I need to focus on the rest of my exams and then I can figure out what options I have."
Both Harry and Ron shook their heads but shared a smile before Ron said, "You know you're going to be able to get any job you want."
"Ginny's up!"
Everyone immediately turned around to see Ginny's group take flight. Within seconds Ginny already had possession of the quaffle and was racing towards the goal posts, scoring the first of many goals in her tryout. Everyone would cheer whenever she made a good play or would assist one of the other girls in getting a goal, and it was clear that she was one of the better players trying out.
"She's got this in the bag!" Ron exclaimed as he watched his sister score another goal. "Mum and dad are going to be so excited when she makes it!"
This made Hermione smile as she imagined the group of them including the Weasley family cheering Ginny on at her games. That would certainly be interesting! She wasn't quite sure how Molly and Arthur would react to Ginny being with Blaise, or her being with Draco for that matter, but she hoped for the best in that scenario.
Ginny's group soon finished their tryout and everyone waited patiently for the last group to finish, which didn't take as long as the group fell apart halfway through when they clearly couldn't work together. Ginny had resumed her pacing at that point and watched as the few remaining girls tried out for seeker and keeper.
"Are they going to keep her down there until they've made a decision?" Pansy asked curiously.
"I'm not sure," Hermione said.
"I think they'll keep everyone down there until everyone's finished trying out and then they'll make the announcements sometime next week," Ron said, looking over his shoulder at them. "At least, that's how the Chudley Cannons do it."
"This isn't the Chudley Cannons though," Draco said curtly.
"No, but I can imagine they'd do something similar," Ron replied in a strained but polite tone.
Hermione gave Blaise, Pansy, and Theo nervous looks before turning her attention back to Ron and Draco. The tension between the two of them was very noticeable, and it made Hermione very uncomfortable. She was hoping that the events of her last encounter with Ron wouldn't come up, but when he stood up and turned around to face her, her stomach turned to knots.
"Can we talk over there?" He asked, nodding his head a little way's further down the stands. "Just real quick."
Draco's arm tightened around her but she looked up at him and muttered, "It's okay, it's just right over there."
Ron nodded in agreement and quickly said, "I won't do anything stupid this time."
Staring the red head down, Draco finally nodded and reluctantly removed his arm from around Hermione's waist, watching with a clenched jaw as she stood up and walked away with Ron.
"He's not going to do anything," Harry said quietly to Draco. "He knows he messed up last time."
"He messed up majorly," Pansy interjected.
Sighing, Harry nodded. "I know. I gave him hell for it."
Draco didn't say anything though as he watched Ron and Hermione standing apart, with Hermione up on a bench above Ron.
"Look, Hermione..." Ron ran a hand through his hair and sighed, looking down. "I'm extremely sorry for how I acted last time. I was panicking and worried I was going to completely lose you from my life, and I reacted very badly."
Hermione shifted her weight from one foot to the other, frowning slightly. "While I appreciate the apology, Ron, I'm not quite ready to forgive you."
"I understand," He nodded. "I just want us to move forward and be friends again. I've been really thickheaded recently and I'm so sorry for letting that affect our friendship. I let past feelings and hatred cloud my judgement. Just seeing the two of you happy together makes me happy for you, and I can tell that he treats you the way you deserve."
She smiled at that. "Thank you, Ron."
He returned the smile and held out a hand. "Friends?"
After a moment she took his hand, shaking it slightly. "Friends."
He grinned at that and said, "Good, because I missed us all being friends."
"I did too."
They both returned to the group and Hermione could sense the tension slowly lifting until everyone was laughing again with each other. Ginny then started walking up into the stands with her hands in her pockets and looking down, but when she looked up and saw Harry and Ron with the group, she froze and stared at them.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, gaping at them.
"We came here to support you," Ron answered with a grin. "George wanted to be here too but he got busy with the shop."
Ginny stood there silently, unsure of what to say. She felt the tears start to well up in her eyes from happiness though and Ron held out his arms for a hug, which she happily rushed forward to accept.
"Thank you," She said quietly into his shoulder.
Ron nodded with a smile and gave her a squeeze before letting go and saying, "You did wonderful!"
"Really?" She frowned slightly and looked at the rest of the group. "I missed a goal, though."
"We didn't even see it," Pansy said happily. "You looked so much more natural than the rest of the girls trying out."
"Don't worry, they'd be stupid not to take you after that," Harry said, patting her shoulder gently.
She smiled at him and then sighed. "Well, I find out next week if they want me or not."
"You better send me a letter letting me know," Ron insisted. "Mum and dad are going to want to know too!"
Ginny laughed and said, "I'll let them know too!"
Hermione's watch beeped and she frowned at it before looking back at the group. "We should probably be heading back before McGonagall comes searching for us."
"I wouldn't doubt that she's in contact with the captain to make sure I come back after the tryout," Ginny said, rolling her eyes slightly.
She and Hermione both gave Ron and Harry hugs and there were promises of writing each other again, which made Hermione happy. The group used their portkey to get back to Hogsmeade, where they decided to get a celebratory lunch for Ginny before heading back to the castle.
"Guys, I don't even know if I've made it yet!" Ginny laughed as they all walked into the Three Broomsticks.
"That doesn't mean we can't celebrate a good tryout," Blaise said with a grin before kissing her on the forehead. "Besides, we're all very proud of you and you deserve this!"
She smiled and the six of them found a table in the corner, happily focusing on making good memories and pushing away thoughts of their upcoming exams.
A/N: I am sooo sorry for the delay with this chapter! I will try to get the next one up very soon, and while it will be the last chapter of this book, you all are going to enjoy it very much! Love you all and enjoy! <3